Jane is a naturalist, photographer and nature writer living in Dorset. Her work has appeared in books, anthologies and blogs for charities such as The Wildlife Trusts and the International Bee Research Association. When she’s not exploring Dorset’s lanes and countryside she can be found lying on her stomach watching insects in her garden. Jane’s…
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Bird song (50, the end)
I’ve enjoyed putting together these 50 blog posts on bird song and I’ve had a great deal of very positive feedback on them (which is obviously very nice). They seem to have hit the mark with many of you. I’ll finish with two short lists of bird songs: one of species that I have actually…
Survey on views on genetic engineering as a tool for supporting conservation efforts
I got the following by email recently from ‘A Bigger Conversation’. For me it definitely fell into the ‘Sounds important, a bit complex and dull, and not very urgent’ so I didn’t do anything with it until now (isn’t that how we end up being unprepared for things like global pandemics). I responded in a…
RSPB seeks top boffin
The RSPB is looking for a new Director of Science to replace Dr David Gibbons who has held the role since 1998. David is stepping down at the end of August after a distinguished scientific career as a PhD student at Cambridge (Moorhen helping behaviour), the BTO (see Gibbons et al. 1993, the Atlas before…
Natural England to get small funding boost
Natural England is to receive an extra £15m this year – that’s quite good news. There is a very witty photo of Natural England chair, Tony Juniper, looking at chicken feed in the article – priceless! And the money is going to be spent on Natural England’s core duties such as SSSI condition, the planning…